social security disability Archives

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The Social Security Administration (SSA) gave $1.29 billion in payments to individuals who were not considered disabled, a mistake the agency says is a “small payment error.”

The SSA made improper payments to roughly 36,000 individuals who were able to earn more than $1,000 per month, rendering them ineligible for the Disability Insurance (DI) program, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Friday.

The cost to the taxpayers was nearly $1.3 billion.

The SSA said that the overall rate of overpayment is low, but the sheer number of people involved in the program leads to large totals.

“While our overpayment accuracy rates are high, even small payment errors result in large costs to taxpayers and to DI beneficiaries,” said Katherine A. Thornton, deputy chief of staff for the SSA, in the SSA’s response to the report.

Read more from this story HERE.

In the last three months, more Americans have joined disability than have found a job.

Between April-June 2012, an estimated 246,000 Americans were added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, only 225,000 American jobs were created.

Since 2008, 3.6. million Americans have been added to Social Security’s disability insurance program. In that same time period, a net total of 1.3 million jobs were lost.

“Amazingly, while fewer Americans are working than at the end of 2008, 3.6 million Americans have been awarded SSDI benefits over the same period. The growing number of people on disability and other federal benefits, combined with weak economic growth, raises serious concerns about the sustainability of the American economy,” Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, says in a statement in response to these new numbers.

“It is clear there is a great need to distinguish between proper and improper disability claims, and to better incentivize and find acceptable work for those who are able. Today only 1 percent of Social Security disability recipients ever return to work. The administration of this program must be improved to avoid sinking our country deeper into debt, to ensure the program remains viable for those with disabilities, and to protect Social Security itself.”

Read more from this story and see the charts reflecting these numbers HERE.

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